


A Wrong She Could Right

by ShadowEtienne



Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Gen, Mentions of Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 14:06:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18074837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowEtienne/pseuds/ShadowEtienne
Summary: After the Battle of Naboo is over, and everything is somewhat settled, Padmé and her handmaidens discuss what needs to be done to right at least one thing in the galaxy. Adventures ensue.





	A Wrong She Could Right

**Author's Note:**

  * For [allonsytotumblr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/allonsytotumblr/gifts).



After everything had settled on Naboo, Padmé found herself at last with her handmaidens, not in the surroundings of the court, and without at least twenty things that she needed to do yesterday. Sabé, Rabé, and Eirtaé had seen her through the fall of the capital and its reclaiming, and had made sure that she was able to learn and do as much as possible during their travels.

 

She had seen many things that she itched to change, but they had been outside of her domain, and change came slowly to parts of the galaxy. She had cried already, tears of joy, frustration, and success, during one of the first nights where they were working to fully restore the capital, but now, she could finally consider what would happen next.

 

As the four of them sat around her room, Sabé brushing out her hair from the heavy hair style it had been in all day, they were quiet at first. Finally, Rabé broke the silence and said, “Padmé, there’s been something bothering you.”

 

Padmé sighed before she spoke, voice sounding more her actual age than it had in months, “We left the boy’s mother on Tatooine. It doesn’t seem fair.”

 

A glance seemed to ripple among her handmaidens, and Sabé said, “And you feel like it’s your duty to fix it?”

 

Padmé nodded, range of motion limited by the brush. Rabé said, “You shouldn’t go alone.”

 

Sabé continued, “And at least two of us need to be here, one to impersonate you, and one to be a handmaiden.”

 

Eirtaé finished, “Which leaves one of the three of us to go with you. The other handmaidens will follow the lead of the ones who stay.”

 

Padmé grinned. “You won’t try to stop me?”

 

Rabé laughed. “We agree that it needs fixing, and we know you. You’ll go off with the plan by yourself and leave us without one if you have to.”

 

Padmé frowned and blurted out, “I would never just leave my responsibilities here!”

 

Sabé chuckled. “We know that you wouldn’t, but now that everything has steadied out again, you’d be able to justify it to yourself soon enough.”

 

She put down the brush and came to sit on the floor beside Padmé. She said, “Don’t worry. I’ll stay to impersonate you because even your closest guards can’t tell which of us is which for sure, and Rabé will stay with me. You can take Eirtaé. Be quick and safe, don’t take the royal ship.”

 

They planned into the night, and before dawn, Padmé and Eirtaé were on a small freighter headed for Tatooine. They’d hired its use, and Eirtaé was piloting. The trip wasn't terribly long, which was part of the reason it had been nagging in Padmé’s mind.

 

She’d brought money that would be respected on Tatooine, as much as that pained her. She didn’t know how else she would be able to help Shmi Skywalker quickly. She’d had dreams of speeches or daring rescues, but she thought that there was a chance that money would be the best solution.

 

It didn’t take her long to find Shmi. She’d remembered where they’d found Anakin, the little boy happy to talk to them and help them out, despite the general atmosphere of Tatooine. Shmi recognized her when she arrived, and with no one else around in the shop, Shmi pulled her aside and whispered frantically, “What are you doing here? This isn’t a safe place for you Padmé?”

 

Padmé looked her over and saw that she was more tired and sad than she had been when they had taken Anakin. Padmé replied, “I’ve come to bring you back too. It wasn’t fair that you were left behind.”

 

Shmi looked away and said, “I don’t think that he’ll agree to trade for me.”

 

Padmé frowned. “I can be very convincing. You should be free, everyone should. Do you want to come with us? I’d find you a home on Naboo.”

 

There was a moment’s hope in Shmi’s eyes, but she hung her head and said, “Of course I would, but I’ll believe it when it happens.”

 

Padmé felt disheartened as she went back to the ship to regroup with Eirtaé. Her handmaiden reassured her, and also told her that they’d find a way even if that way was breaking Shmi out. However, when they found themselves in the shop the next morning, the owner was shouting and grumbling about having just lost money on a race, and that it would take forever to recoup what he had lost.

 

Padmé listened just long enough until he shouted at Shmi that maybe he would have to sell her too, since her boy had been the one who did the best work. Then, Padmé stepped in, dressed more like the wealthy of the desert world than she had been the day before, glad for the disguise that Eirtaé had devised for her. She asked, voice haughty, “How much would you want for her, if you are so hard on your luck?”

 

The shop owner took her appearance in, and he seemed to think it through. He named a price that Padmé knew was above what he should have based on what Eritaé had heard in the market the previous day, but it was well within what she had, and there was no price too high for someone’s freedom.

 

Shmi Skywalker, a free woman, seemed shocked that she was even on the ship with Padmé and Eirtaé. She told Padmé that she had paid an unreasonable amount, but Padmé had brooked no argument. She told Shmi that as soon as she got a little bit more settled on Naboo, they would find a way for her to see her son. Padmé knew that the Jedi were strange about allowing people connections, but the young knight who would train Anakin was gentle enough that she knew that she could convince him.

 

As the came into orbit, Shmi gasped from the viewing windows, “It’s so green!”

 

 


End file.
